Archive

G J C Reid's letter rankles (The bright side, May 27). It embodies the indolent complacency buried in such cliches as ''everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds'' and ''as long as the rich are good

Mature men take heart - bald can be beautiful, big ears are endearing, and even fat has its female fans. Ginger Chris Evans, big-ears Martin Clunes, camp Eddie Izzard and cuddly comic Phil Jupitus are some of the unlikely 30-something sex symbols celebrated

AS many as 140 Scottish textile workers are facing the threat of redundancy following the collapse of yet another clothing manufacturer, the fourth blow to the industry in less than a week. They work on production at Cumbernauld-based Edward Macbean

Frances Horsburgh. A FORMER senior official of the Scottish Labour Party yesterday urged it to become more Scottish and more nationalist, writes Frances Horsburgh. This was the way, he claimed during the conference, to win back support from the apparently

Conference B Ronnie McGregor, the Poloc saviour, could not understand what all the fuss was about. No matter that he had just taken six wickets in what looked like being a rout, only to have to reappear in the middle to steer his jitter-ridden mates

This week international textile manufacturer Johnstons of Elgin will opens its new Cashmere Vistor Centre which marks ''the end of the new beginning'' rather than the beginning of the end which looked likely a year ago. There was

Victoria .......... 13 Scotland .......... 42 THOUGH a very necessary win was achieved with relative ease, it was difficult to avoid the conclusion that this was an oppor-tunity spurned by Scotland at Melbourne's Olympic Park on Saturday. They

NOBODY could call Ernst Kovacic a ''routinier'' and his Perth Festival concert at Scone Palace, which he shared with three expert fellow instrumentalists, was as exemplary in its planning as in its execution. The programme was like

Former Dunfermline, Raith Rovers and Hamilton manager Ian Munro is expected to take charge at Queen's Park this week. However, when he gets to Hampden he could find he has only half a team. Keeper Gordon Bruce has been signed by Stranraer, Arbroath

n Rita Hayworth, the radiantly beautiful GI pinup of the 1940s, paid a high price for her Hollywood success: she died of Alzheimer's Disease in 1987, having been totally unable to remember her past triumphs during her last few years. It was a cruel

DESPERATE efforts were under way last night to take help to a remote mountainous area of northern Afghanistan devastated by a powerful earthquake which killed at least 3000 people. ''We have confirmed information from our colleagues and other

TITLE-holders Linlithgowshire continued their recent run of good form as they moved into a two-point lead at the top of the East section in the Counties Bowls Championship, crushing Midlothian 154-96 at Uphall Station. For the second successive week,

SOCIALISTS will applaud Roy Hattersley's criticism of New Labour for failing to tackle poverty and inequality (May 30). But socialism is more than politics, it is also about applying its principles to the way we live. When MPs' outside earnings

SCOTTISH Liberal Democrat leader Jim Wallace is suggesting that all organisations in Scotland should be able to come together in a committee which would advise the new Scottish Parliament on legislation, writes Ken Smith. He said the advisory and consultative

Private companies such as Richard Branson's Virgin could be involved in providing ''stakeholder'' second pensions, Welfare Reform Minister Frank Field said yesterday. Mr Field raised the prospect of private companies forming

ANYONE who has visited New York recently could be forgiven for thinking that the locals now worship a new Holy Trinity . . . Coke, Budweiser and McDonald's. Certainly, it is hard to think of more pervasive symbols of American mass culture. The power

TEMPERS frayed among frustrated passengers as the disruption caused by industrial action in Spain continued to stall holiday flights from Scottish airports yesterday. The strike by Spanish air traffic controllers ended on Friday night, but its knock-on

EDINBURGH'S Doug Walker staked a persuasive claim to the European Cup 200 metres berth when he clocked the fastest legal time by a British athlete this season as he won the event at the Bedfordshire International Games in 20.59sec. The wind on Saturday

Lords reform ON the first of April this year, the Independent treated its readers to a spoof about the House of Lords, which claimed that Labour was considering selecting the upper House by lot. On the first of June we find a new tract from the relentlessly

FOUR people are expected to appear in court today charged with breach of the peace and public disorder offences arising from the annual James Connolly Society march in Edinburgh. According to Lothian and Borders Police, around 200 people took part in

BACK BITE June 1, 1818 n THE Herald reported: ''On Wednesday last, a fine boy about 12 years of age fell from a window in the Kirkton, Greenock, three storeys high. He was taken up to the infirmary in a state of insensibility, where he lingered

IT was billed as the Great Scottish Walk, but as the participants passed the finishing line, they could be forgiven for renaming it the Great Scottish Soak. Biting winds and driving rain left thousands of walkers sodden and shivering at the end of the

A MAP dowser claims to have discovered the last resting place of a king's treasure trove described as ''Britain's Tutankhamun'' in the Firth of Forth, writes Raymond Duncan. Former boxer Jim Longton, who has unearthed valuable

A NEW political row over the controversial award of the #5000m Trident missile submarine refit contract to Devonport Dockyard instead of Rosyth is set to erupt this week when MPs hear vital nuclear safety upgrading work is more than three years behind

DETECTIVES last night appealed for witnesses after a fishmonger in Glasgow was confronted by an armed man who forced him to hand over money. Police said the 55-year-old owner of the Seafood Varieties shop in London Road, near Glasgow Cross, was &apos

COUNCIL leaders in Glasgow yesterday vowed to crack down on rent dodgers after figures revealed it had the highest level of non-payment in Scotland. Accounts Commission statistics showed uncollected rent of #8.2m in the city in 1997. The next highest

Hockey: World Cup SCOTLAND's World Cup players may not have reached the heights of their predecessors 12 years ago when they finished two places better, but their tenth position at Utrecht at the weekend will act as a launching pad for

A COUNCIL has been criticised for labelling the Irish as a separate race from the rest of the white world. An equal opportunites form issued by Aberdeen City Council for employment monitoring purposes is the problem. In the section for ethnic group,

Two for the road: the hit willow, of which more than 1500 were sold. Picture: CHRIS JAMES THE undoubted star of the National Gardening Show in Strathclyde Country Park was the Salix Fuiji-Koriangi, a Japanese willow tree which was selling

UNTIL now, those responsible for Pan Drops have relied on their Scottish heritage and traditional manufacturing methods to help them make a mint. Now it's not only gloves off but everything else as well as John Millar and Sons, the 154-year-old

BEDWETTING n Not only babies wet their beds. That's the message going out this Thursday for National Dry Night's campaign. Bedwetting may be acceptable in young children but when it extends to teenagers, the irritant becomes an embarrassing

USE passing places to allow overtaking, declare the repeated signs. A good idea, for the scenery on the southern shore of Loch Ness is so stunning that it makes sense to make way for the locals who've seen it all before. We were on the B852 heading

DESPITE a last-gasp header from Julie Fleeting, their seventeenth of the match, Scotland still failed to automatically qualify for the Women's World Cup in the United States next summer. The Scots thought they had to beat Lithuania by 17 clear

A mixed reaction given to the big World Cup surprise Everyone, it seemed, had their own different opinion of Glenn Hoddle's bold decision to omit Paul Gascoigne from his World Cup plans. One of the Class of '66, Roger Hunt, believes that an

Pakistan has been forced to take the drastic step of going nuclear for its security, reports Bashir maan, who also outlines the part played by the United States in the decision India 5, Pakistan 6 . . . or maybe even 7, Pakistan is definitely one up

INTELLECTUAL property will be the hot topic at this week's international conference of the Licensing Executives Society, which is expected to attract about 400 delegates from more than 35 countries throughout the world. Although the conference

FLIRTATION is always fun to watch, especially when it is between two old slappers like George Reid and John McAllion. The politics of coalition is about to hit Scotland and, away from the sectarian posturings of Westminster, the chat-up lines are being

IT was with interest that I read of Glasgow City Council's decision to retain Notre Dame High School in its current state. I have to confess to a degree of nostalgia for it since it is the school which my mother, sisters, and numerous relatives

EXCLUSIVE FACTIONAL warfare seems set to resume in Glasgow's strife-torn Labour group next week when a long-awaited annual general meeting will see Councillor Jean McFadden being challenged for the group convenership by a staunch supporter of her

AMID major selection problems for Scotland's Australian tour management, British Lions stand-off Gregor Townsend has been left in no doubt that he must produce a top- quality performance against New South Wales Country tomorrow. Coach Jim Telfer

New man moves to Oliver's desk THE man who must rebuild the beleaguered police force left in the wake of the Dr Ian Oliver saga begins his daunting task today. Mr Andrew Brown, the new chief constable of Grampian Police, takes up the post and

Yachting Australian skipper Peter Gilmour, who is representing Japan's Nippon America's Cup Challenge, has won the Cottonfield Cup match racing series in Copenhagen. Gilmour and his all-Japanese crew, the world champions, would have met the

THE risks of playing the solo violin music of Bach in the cathedral-like acoustic of St John's Kirk are many. The sound swells to fill the huge space, almost as though it is being massively amplified: on the one hand, detail can get smudged or

PEOPLE in Scotland's rural areas are better at creating businesses than their city-based counterparts, according to Iain Scott of the Robert Owen Foundation, who has just completed a study on new ideas in rural development, writes Robert Ross, Farming

In the dim and dark recesses of North Lanarkshire Council they no doubt feel aggrieved that the Scottish Secretary's crusading assault on errant councils comes just as their own little local difficulty, comprising a #4m hole in the building and

A Labour MP last night said that Foreign Secretary Robin Cook should be ''embarrassed'' over his handling of the arms-to-Sierra-Leone affair. Eric Illsey, a member of the foreign affairs committee which Mr Cook is due to face tomorrow

SHINE will go down in the history books as one of this decade's greatest films, a captivating account of the life of Australian pianist, David Helfgott, who triumphed against mental illness to return to the stage and resume status as a concert pianist

Boxing Round-up KEITH Knox, the butcher from Bonnyrigg, will tonight bid to win his first major professional title at the St. Andrew's Sporting Club in Glasgow and end what has been a period of deep frustration. Knox will meet champion Alfonso Zvenyika

CHANCELLOR Gordon Brown is preparing to raise taxes on the North Sea oil industry in an attempt to raise funds for health and education without resorting to general taxation. A Treasury consultation paper is due to be published within weeks, setting

Golf: Deutsche Bank Open Paul Broadhurst and Darren Clarke shared the joint lead after a day of phenomenal scoring in the third round of the Deutsche Bank SAP Open in Hamburg yesterday. Both players shot 65 for three-round aggregates of 198, 18 under

A priest in Stepps, Lanarkshire, has been put on leave of absence after being reported to the procurator-fiscal over alleged indecencies. A spokesman for Strathclyde Police confirmed that the man had been the subject of a report to the fiscal. A spokesman

SCOTS actor Walter Carr, known for his versatility in demanding theatrical roles as well as being a comedian, pantomime dame, and star of television's original Vital Spark series, has died aged 72. He had been fighting throat cancer for two years

IT may be the case that Scotland have still to win a game since qualifying for the World Cup finals - this was their third successive draw following defeats from France and Denmark - yet manager Craig Brown arrived home yesterday more

YOUNG Ben Stirling fancied the motorcycles and hundreds of others inspected the cars yesterday at the Perth Motor Festival. Britain's worst driver was there, Maureen Rees, 56. She was on the TV programme Driving School for needing 500 lessons and

ALTHOUGH Ambrose Bierce had great experience of war, he died in 1914 and so we are forever denied the true definition of the atom bomb. Had he known of it he would have produced something far better than my attempt below. Nuclear weapon, mis-spelling

q TODAY'S card at Hamilton looks rather tricky, nothing new there, you may well say, but when the going changes considerably than of late it is usually just the odds layers who benefit, writes Chris Russell. However, the ground was not too firm

FEARS over the link between lead and lower IQs has prompted calls from Government experts for more action to cut the amount of lead eaten through food. Consumers are being warned to wash vegetables thoroughly to remove potentially contaminated soil and

IT will be trap inspections and leg ringing as usual today for bird warden Paul Baker, as Fair Isle celebrates the golden jubilee of its pioneering bird observatory. The peak of the late-spring migration is no time to be taking it easy and Mr Baker and

Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam faced Unionist anger last night after her invitation to Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness to a royal garden party with the Prince of Wales was bluntly rejected by Sinn Fein. She stood accused of an error of

An evening with Loudon Wainwright III, the clown prince of country, is an experience unlike any other. His eclectic mix of classic country tragedy and self- aware comedy takes a little time, as well as a high level of concentration, to appreciate properly

Swimming Scotland's swimmers came closer to filling the quota of Commonwealth Games places when David Leith and Michael Cole added their names to the list of qualifiers at yesterday's Speedo Super Grand Prix finals in Sheffield. However, the

American Football The Scottish Claymores' fondness for the Waldstadion evaporated in Frankfurt last night as they completed their NFL Europe League travels with a 21-10 defeat against Frankfurt Galaxy. At a stadium where they had never lost and

Athletics Round-up A MAD scramble, and failure to follow the pace-maker, made a dent in the European Cup 800 metres aspirations of Edinburgh's Paul Walker yesterday in Slovenia, writes Doug Gillon. Walker could finish only fifth in Ljubljana, beaten

AS Scotland arrived home yesterday following their two-game trip to the United States, they did so with the feeling of a job well done, and with the strong suggestion from their weekend Washington opponents that they may well be able to hold their own

The Princess Royal today officially reopens the Song School in Edinburgh. Alastair Guild reports Picture: STEWART ATTWOOD PHOEBE Anna Traquair was one of Scotland's most prolific and versatile artists and craftworkers of the late nineteenth and

Face to face There are instances when everything about Conor Cruise O'Brien seems in contradiction. For a start, he is an unconvincing octogenarian who lives in a house called White Water but, given the weather that's in it today, the sea at

n THE sun has got its hat on/and you should do the same!'' A liberal paraphrasing of the traditional children's song. Yet the message cannot be reinforced enough. Despite Scotland's lack of rays we are not exempt when it comes to

Chancellor Gordon Brown is facing pressure not to water down proposals for a national minimum wage. TUC general secretary John Monks warned the Treasury yesterday not to try to exempt workers under the age of 25 from the full #3.60 an hour now set to

Self-evidently, government is a matter of continuity. Issues pass from one parliament to another and from one government to another and it is not unusual to find the sins of one visited on its successor. So it is with Rosyth, the focus for one of the

I SEE that young Mr Field is pontificating about a return to the work ethic. A bit reminiscent of Mrs Thatcher's family values, isn't it? Neither of them can actually remember the days when these ethics or values were supposed to have been

Tearful student in donor appeal leukemia sufferer Johanna MacVicar yesterday admitted that she may die unless a bone marrow donor comes forward. The 20-year-old model, from Bishopton, Renfrewshire, is trying to find a donor for a life-saving transplant

HIGH Street giant Marks & Spencer has chosen Glasgow for its biggest store in Europe. A #25m extension to Scotland's flagship M&S Argyle Street shop will create 250 new jobs. The new-look superstore will embrace the existing building and a new block

THE Scottish Parliament is being advised to establish formal links with the country's EU representatives as a way of maximising its clout within the European Union. The scheme is being championed by SNP Euro-MP Allan Macartney and will be submitted

SCOTTISH Secretary Donald Dewar will today take action against North Lanarkshire Council over a #4m deficit, which he said appeared to represent an intolerable level of failure. Mr Dewar announced yesterday that a statutory notice would be served on

HEARTS manager Jim Jefferies, who will meet the club's top striker John Robertson today to discuss the player's future, is one of the men who has caught the eye of Sheffield Wednesday's board, who are seeking a replacement for Ron Atkinson

Shinty Camanachd Association officials breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday when Kilmallie and Inveraray did them a favour, winning their league matches, thus avoiding the need for multiple play-offs which would have extended an already over-stretched

SNP leader Alex Salmond yesterday accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of pursuing policies which ran counter to ''the Scottish political mainstream'' that survived the Thatcher years by retaining a firm belief in society and in the

THE artist formerly known as Ginger Spice is no more. Geri Halliwell, 25, has quit the Spice Girls, the pop band second only to the Beatles in chart success. Halliwell cited merely ''differences'' as the reason for her departure.

THE curtain comes down today for the final time on one of Scotland's best known movie locations, writes John McEachran. For the workmen are moving in to gut the old George Hotel in Glasgow - where many recent top films and television programmes

EUROPE is set to establish its own annual Hollywood-style Oscar awards, writes Rory Watson, European Correspondent. The competition is designed to promote the European film industry as it faces ever tougher competition from across the Atlantic and it

Taste and the emotional feeling of disgust are governed by the same areas of the brain, researchers have learned. The discovery has important implications for the treatment of people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), many of whom have an exaggerated

WHILE shoppers bustled in Glasgow's Trongate at the weekend, all around them people were talking shop. In the nooks and crannies around the Tron Theatre, and in the theatre itself, Scotland's future was being discussed, and if anyone still

Memorial Tournament Forget the young guns. Fred Couples is the hottest golfer on the planet. The former Masters champion continued his best streak in six years when he led throughout the final round on his way to an emphatic four-stroke victory at the

Doing the decent thing TOPIC OF THE WEEK World Naturist Day The Full Monty has a lot to answer for. Fuelling the warped idea that the natural state of nudity is a bit phwooar! saucy, a bit cor! racy and jeez Louise! all that wobbling flesh - yuk. It&

OVD Cup holders Arthurlie picked up their second piece of silverware in as many weeks when they convincingly beat Shettleston by 4-0 in the Abercorn League Cup final. The teams were evenly matched in the early stages of the game but on the half-hour

CRIMINAL charges could be brought against the operators of the Dounreay nuclear plant following the fiasco that resulted in power being cut off last month. The procurator-fiscal in Wick is conducting a full-scale investigation into the incident and has

POLICE are investigating the death of a young woman in a house in a private estate in Gretna, Dumfriesshire. She has been named as Kelly Fallon, 20, of Lockerbie. Detectives went to the house early yesterday and the woman's body was removed. A post-mortem

YOUR correspondent from Harris, Ian Callaghan (What Harris needs, May 27), seems to have hit the nail squarely on the head. The only positive conclusions to emerge from all the representations are clearly summarised: Harris does not need its coastline

THE electricity supply industry faces a period of considerable turmoil over the next few years with the probability of a severe fall in the number of participants by 2005. At present, there are 15 suppliers in the #9000m-a--year consumer market but a

Football digest Premier league necomers Dundee will today snap up freed Motherwell pair Shaun McSkimming and Eric Garcin. Dens Park boss Jocky Scott has fixed up French midfielder Garcin and left-sided utility player McSkimming as part of a summer signing

St Rule Trophy SCOTLAND'S big-name women golfers were were left out in the cold as monsoon-like weather washed out the third and last round of the St Rule Trophy over the Old Course at St Andrews yesterday. That left a 16-year-old Spanish girl as

Challenge de France Mike Miller finished top Scot in the Challenge de France at Sable Solesmes, near Le Mans yesterday, and might have got among the leading prizes but for a torrential downpour midway through his round. The Glasgow-based 47-year-old

LECTURERS and research staff at the troubled Glasgow Caledonian University have issued a formal demand for an injection of new blood into its governing body in a bid to demonstrate that it is committed to cleaning up its act. They want outsiders brought

Campaigners are calling for a change in a law that prevents many Scots victims of dementia from making simple decisions like buying a new pair of shoes. The outdated law means that Alzheimer's victims whose financial and legal affairs have been

THE Royal Bank of Scotland is expected to announce early this week that it has accepted #5m compensation as the price for dropping its #630m takeover of the Birmingham Midshires Building Society. In addition, the bank will receive #10m if the building

MR T S MANN'S letter (May 29) is clearly the angry, uninformed response of a motorist caught in a jam. To those who know well this beautiful stretch of the Kelvin Valley, abundant in now rare and diverse plant and wild life, his description of it

THERE was only one survivor from Saturday's Conference A card, and GHK came within a whisker of winning it. There is a certain irony in that both sides lost ground to others who were unable to play, and whose percentage in the league table therefore

SEVERAL of those who were left behind when Scotland went to Fiji took their opportunity to make a case for consideration for the senior side during Saturday's 42-13 win over Victoria. Experienced tourist Peter Wright spoke for his colleagues when

THE Scotland midfielder John Collins will not join up with the rest of the squad in Glasgow later this week. Instead, he will make the short journey from his home in Monaco to the team's Provencal headquarters. Collins returned to Monaco yesterday

A MAN and a juvenile have been charged with the murder of a girl whose dismembered body was found in the foundations of a new house in Omagh, Co Tyrone. They will appear in court today charged with murdering Sylvia Fleming, 17. As well as a 26-year-old

Rent-a-hubbies The late and much-loved Scottish actress, Effie Morrison, was not the most plausible candidate as a prospective bigamist. (And in fact she stayed single not least because her heart belonged to Partick Thistle.) But she did opine that

European Hockey Club Championships WESTERN Grasshopper, the Scottish league and cup holders, have done their country proud in the European club championships, C division, at Auchenhowie in Glasgow, writes Joseph Dillon. They have not only won all three

IN one respect, the celebrity recital given at the Perth Festival on Saturday night by French pianist Bernard d'Ascoli was a bizarre musical concoction. After a short opening set of four pieces by Chopin, which were a bit monochrome in their delivery

THAT'S SHOWBIZ n The voluptuous beauty of cakes, the idiocy of geezers and wimmin's stuff. All form an unholy triumvirate for comedian Jo Brand. The lady in black swoops into Glasgow this week to lend her weight to Glasgow Women's Support

Open Forum SO what is ''good news management''? Another in a long line of flavour of the month fads? No, it's an approach that can cost you money, destroy your job, maim or even kill you! Who uses this methodology? How do we

The Government was facing increasing demands yesterday to end its ''extraordinarily damaging'' ban on the building of new gas-fired power stations. Shadow Industry Secretary John Redwood said any proposals to extend the present six-month

Cycling AUSTRALIAN Stuart O'Grady completed a magnificent week of racing in the nine-day Prutour race when he clinched victory yesterday. Fellow-Aussie Jay Sweet won the final stage in a 40mph sprint finish. The pair, from Adelaide, could have

Perrott Phillips blows the trumpet of a city which is learning to call the tune Krakow THE trumpet-call lasted only a few notes and ended abruptly. High above my head, in the pinnacled tower of St Mary's Church, in Krakow, a tiny figure appeared

As Foster Care Fortnight gets under way, Anne Johnstone describes the reasons behind a deepening crisis and why there are never enough carers to go round SOME of the little children who stay with Grace have interesting lines in artwork: pictures all

A group of car enthusiasts and businessmen is believed to be planning an eleventh-hour offer this week that will top Volkswagen's bid for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The group of Rolls and Bentley car owners, mostly British and American millionaires

Thousands of pounds in prize money is being offered for enthusiasts who make the journey between Land's End and John O'Groats. Since the first official end-to-end trip 120 years ago, thousands have undertaken the 874-mile journey in a variety

Pessimists say that the ways of the world are worsening; optimists say that news of catastrophes is more widely available. Whatever the truth, the unfortunate people of northern Afghanistan have suffered quite enough in recent years without the latest

ANALYSTS may well be inclined to go on holiday this week as there is little for them to really get their teeth into with only a scattering of major companies reporting. This morning sees full-year results from the FirstGroup bus and train operator. The

AS Scotland's football team prepares for the global limelight in Paris next week, privileged by the luck of the draw to open the World Cup in a match against the great Brazilians, I paid a rather special visit to the spiritual home of Scottish football

George Reynolds gets a grip in Grampian as he courses around some of the area's spectacular scenery SOME people ''bag'' Munros just to say that they have scaled them; others ''twitch'' to the remotest corners